The breadcrumb is a secondary navigational component that helps users identify their current location and enables them to move to a parent level or a previous step. Comprised of text links, each link in a breadcrumb represents a page, one level up, that users can quickly access.
Breadcrumbs are an important navigational element that support wayfinding — making users aware of their current location within the hierarchical structure of an application.
The breadcrumb component consists of the following elements:
Text link: Breadcrumbs appear as a live text link with a blue fill, like hyperlinks. They direct users to the parent-level page.
Text link separator: The separator provides a visual indication of separation between pages. It uses the same font as the text link. Separators aren't interactive.
Current item: The breadcrumb item for the page the user is currently viewing. Appears as plain text.
All items in the breadcrumb trail (except the current page) must represent a place the user can go to. If there's a logical category that doesn't have an associated page, don't include it in the breadcrumb trail.
Breadcrumb trails typically start with the homepage. However, if the global navigation includes a link to the homepage, don't include the Home link in the breadcrumb trail.
Breadcrumbs are intended to show the hierarchical structure of the site, not the history of pages traversed.
Ensure that all items in the breadcrumb trail, except the current page, are active links.
On mobile devices, don't wrap breadcrumbs to multiple lines. Consider shortening the breadcrumb trail to include only the last levels.
Breadcrumbs are a list of links representing the current page and its "ancestors" (parent page, grandparent page, and so on). Breadcrumbs can assist users in finding their place within a website or web application.
Screen reader interaction: The aria role of 'navigation' and the aria-label='breadcrumb' are included to provide more context to screen reader users. Similarly, when the 'lastItemClickable' checkbox is enabled, the final link in the breadcrumb trail adopts the value aria-current="page" to identify the current page.
Keyboard interaction: Navigate to the links using the TAB key. Activate the link using the ENTER key.
Color: The contrast ratio of textual elements against their background is above 4.5:1, as per WCAG 2.0 AA requirements.
Zoom: All content is visible and functional up to and including a zoom factor of 200%.
This component has been validated to meet the WCAG 2.0 AAaccessibility guidelines. However, changes made by the content author can affect accessibility conformance. Refer to the guidance below and also to the WAI-ARIA Authoring Practices for Breadcrumbs. Considerations include the following:
The breadcrumb trail must remain in the same location on each page.
Make sure to understand the Design System components API surface, and the implications and trade-offs. Learn more in our introduction to the component API.